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Sunday, 14 April 2013

Wedding Day Woes

Over recent months I have found myself less busy than expected. This was probably due to the abysmal winter that we have experienced. I have also allowed my blog updating to slip somewhat.

Last year, just before Christmas, I was booked to perform at a wedding. It was my very first wedding booking and I was really excited about this performance. A wedding booking is definitely an opportunity not to be missed. A successful wedding performance can really open the floodgates to future bookings (the wedding circuit is quite lucrative). However, due to an unfortunate mix up I ended up having to cancel my booking. Allow me to explain.

A few days before Christmas, tragedy had struck me and, for that matter, my entire family; my Sky+ box failed to record a repeat of Family Fortunes (on Challenge) with classic host Les Dennis. Les has always made me laugh; he's a very underrated comedian. Missing Family Fortunes meant that on this occasion I was unable to laugh along with him. My wife said that I had been in a mood for quite some time after realising this unfortunate incident, although I don't think it put me in that much of a downer. Les has always been one of my comedy heroes and along with Bobby Davro, I consider them to be the inspiration that paved the way for the development of my own cutting-edge 'comedy genius' style. Anyway, I'm getting off the point, so let's get back onto the point. I had been booked to perform at a wedding. However, I was convinced that the guy that booked me said that the wedding would take place at 2, but when he called to check arrangements (on the morning of the wedding) the time for my performance had changed to 5.30!

As an aside, this guy has serious organisational issues as he had already spoken to me and confirmed the booking several times on the lead up to the wedding; I am astounded that he could not remember the original booking details; after all, he booked me! My advice to him - get a diary. It will save you a lot of unnecessary follow-up calls.

That said, when I double checked the booking against my organiser, I realised that I had actually been looking at the wrong month! I had a family wedding to attend (as a guest) in November - an easy mistake to make. The problem with this new time was that I could not possibly perform at the wedding and still get home to see Strictly Come Dancing (the special Christmas celebrity edition). The drive from Wigston is long one and it would have been impossible to make it back in time. To compound the problem, with my Sky+ box not working, I could not record the show for later viewing. I knew that I had to make a tough decision there and then, and I believe I made the only decision that could be made under the exceptional circumstances. That decision, and I'm sure you'll all agree with me, was to let the couple down on their special day. The bookings guy was quite irate and rather rude to me - if you're reading this, it came over as quite unprofessional conduct and totally inappropriate. However, I did send them a couple of signed photographs in consolation for my absence which I'm sure would have quelled the waters somewhat.

The funny thing with all of this is that I actually missed Strictly Come Dancing (the special Christmas celebrity edition) as I was instead engrossed in watching a repeat run of In The Grid (another game show that starred Les Dennis). I didn't worry though as I simply watched Strictly Come Dancing (the special celebrity Christmas edition) on BBC iPlayer. I love TV on demand services!

Not to worry though, a quick call to Sky television (and a £65 payment) and they sent an engineer around to fix my box. Happy days!

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About David Lemezmer

Professional magician David Lemezmer, once described as 'the man Paul
Daniels could have been', has appeared on several prestigious stages,
including 'Britain's Got Talent', where he lasted an impressive 103
seconds.